Technical Field
This application is related to quick disconnect connectors, and more particularly, to quick disconnect fluid-dispensing and fuel-dispensing connectors.
Related Technology
For Naval vessels, refueling at sea can be challenging, dangerous, and sometimes deadly. Refueling unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned underwater vessels (UUVs) can be even more difficult, because sailors are often hoisted overboard by crane to manually refuel the vehicles. This maneuver is particularly dangerous in high sea states.
Some milling machines use quick-connect/disconnection tools to allow an electrical or pneumatic connection to be made between a host system and a target system. However, these precision instruments require an exact connection to be made, and do not allow for any alignment error. Other pneumatic quick-disconnect mechanisms require user intervention to attach and detach.
Some magnetic connectors allow for the transmission of electricity. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,526, to Rohrbach et al., provides an electrical plug and receptacle of the type used in an Apple laptop computer.
A magnetically-connected quick disconnect mechanism for fluid transfer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,891,637. This connector is disclosed as requiring a person to connect and disconnect the system.